Times like These
by Tina Chaves1
Summary: R&R fluff to get it out of my system! : HIATUS


Times like These  
  
by Tina  
  
R&R "fluff-fic" set in the middle of TOW R&R take a break! :)  
  
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"Okay, I don't know what to do anymore."  
  
"Well neither do I!"  
  
"Is this about Mark?"  
  
"Oh my God."  
  
"Okay, it's not, it's not."  
  
"Oh my God. I cannot keep having this same fight over and over again, Ross, no, you're, you're, you're making this too hard."  
  
"Oh I'm, I'm making this too hard. Okay, what do you want me to do."  
  
"I don't know, I don't know. Urrrgh! Look, maybe we should take a break!"  
  
"Okay, okay, fine, you're right. Let's ah, let's take a break, let's cool off, okay, let's get some frozen yogurt, or something.."  
  
"No. A break from us."  
  
Ross turned around and left the apartment. Rachel took all of the strengh left in her to sigh.  
  
'Breathe'  
  
Tears found their way to her eyes.  
  
'What the hell did I just say?! A break? A BREAK?!'  
  
Stumbling - her sight blurred and mind racing - she sat down on the couch and tried to recompose the last few hours in her mind. Had they just taken a break on their one year aniversary? Had she been the one who proposed them to do it?!  
  
Oh my God...!!  
  
She let the tears run free.  
  
'Goodbye, Ross!!'  
  
Her hard words rang in her head. How could she had been so hard on him after all the trouble he went through for her? He just wanted to be with her, she should be thankful she had someone who cared that much. But at the same time... She couldn't blame herself. She hadn't been the same for the last few days and she had a good excuse. For about three days she had known it and had carefully kept the secret to herself to surprise Ross.  
  
On their anniversary.  
  
Even though she was nervous, she knew he'd take it well. He'd be thrilled. And he'd make her just as excited.  
  
She was happy, of course. But she knew seeing the smile on his face would multiply that feeling.  
  
They were gonna have a baby.  
  
But now... the tears were multiplied. Not the joy. What had she just done??  
  
'Calm down, Rachel, everything's gonna be alright!' she told herself. 'Wait a few minutes and call him. He'll come back and you can explain it to him. Meanwhile, give it time for you two to cool off.'  
  
She looked at the balcony and noticed it was snowing. In the past, she had found retreat watching the outside world from that window. Why not? She approached the bench and leaned against the wall, resting her forehead on the cool glass. When it got too cold to bear, she turned around and faced the phone.  
  
It had only been a few minutes, but she decided to call him anyway. She dialed the number she knew by heart and waited till his voice came up on the answering machine.  
  
The simple sound of his voice at such a simple message touched her. She hung up and looked down.  
  
As soon as she looked out the window again, the phone rang, startling her.  
  
"Hello?" she dove for it.  
  
"Oh, hi. It's Mark."  
  
Disapoitment.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"What? Is it my breath?"  
  
"No! Sorry, I just thought you were somebody else. Hi!"  
  
"Hi. Well, look, I was just gonna leave a message, isn't tonight your, your big anniversary dinner?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, umm....."  
  
"Rach, are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"You wanna talk, I mean I can come over?"  
  
"No, no, I, it's nothing, Mark"  
  
"Okay, I'm coming over"  
  
"No, Mark, really, don't" There was a brief silence on the other side "Please"  
  
"Okay"  
  
"I'm sorry"  
  
"No, it's, it's fine, I'm just confused. What happened?"  
  
Rachel looked down. She liked Mark a lot, but somehow it seemed like bringing the reason for so much fighting with Ross home right now would just make things worse.  
  
"Ross and I just... had a little fight, but it's gonna be okay"  
  
"Oh, okay"  
  
"So... what's the message?"  
  
"Right, hm... Just wanted to tell you I managed to get those tickets for that Calvin Klein fashion show you were looking foward to"  
  
"Oh, that's great"  
  
But her voice didn't show much enthusiasm.  
  
"Right..."  
  
"I'm sorry, Mark, now's just not a good time.. Can I talk to you later?"  
  
"Sure"  
  
"See ya"  
  
"Bye"  
  
Rachel hung up. She brushed away her tears and let her hand slide softly down to her stomach. Their baby was there. Sometimes it was so hard to believe...! Everything that was happening to her was hard to believe, actually. Sometimes she'd look back and question herself if that was really real.  
  
Had she really walked out of her old life, so full of luxuries and certainties to live with Monica at the city? Did she really have her own job, made her own money to pay for her own rent? Buy her own things, things she earned.  
  
And ocasionally late at night or early in the morning, she would watch Ross as he slept next to her and wonder if that too was real. Was she really going out with him? Was she really in love with him?  
  
High school Rachel wouldn't believe it. Yet now there she was, head over heels in love with the science geek. She had even worn her chearleading outfit for him quite a few times.  
  
'Good moments' she thought to herself with a smile on her face.  
  
And the cherry on top of it all: the new found pregnancy. As if there hadn't been enough changes, she was now going to become a mommy. The very thought of it stirred the butterflies in Rachel's belly. But she wouldn't say she was scared. Aprehensive, maybe. But it was going to be their baby...! It was going to be so great!  
  
She laid down on the bench and rolled to her side. So much for wanting to share this news with him that night and celebrate their new reason of happiness. She had so much to be thankful with him...! She had to talk to him. Straight things out, make it right. Her hormones and stress had taken the best of her back at the office, but she could not let it jeopardise their special day.  
  
Damn, she couldn't believe it had been a year, already. Both because it had passed by so fast and because it also seemed like they'd been together forever. Oh, the contradictions. Sometimes she just couldn't imagine what life was like before they got together. How could she sleep without his body next to hers? Without having him as the first thing she saw in the morning?  
  
A long time went by as she simply thought about their relationship. Good and bad. Some of the bad things would have to be accepted and learned to be lived with, she concluded. The others, however, had a long way to be worked out. But they'd make it. The were worth it.  
  
Riiiing!  
  
Rachel dove for the phone again.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi. It's me."  
  
His familiar voice soothed her, melted away her tension.  
  
"Hi! Oh, I'm so glad you called."  
  
"Really? I've been thinking, this is crazy, I mean don't, don't you think we can work on this?"  
  
"Of course we can."  
  
She heard him sigh in relief and smiled.  
  
"It's so good to hear this"  
  
"This whole thing is stupid, Ross, I'm so sorry I've put you through it. Just come home, please, so we can start our anniversary again"  
  
"You don't need to ask twice"  
  
Her tears were happy tears now.  
  
"I love you"  
  
"I love you too"  
  
She tugged to the phone, sweetly.  
  
"I'll be there in a second"  
  
"I'll be waiting"  
  
She hung up and smiled.  
  
'Better freshen up after that'  
  
She entered the bathroom and splashed some water on her face. Her blue eyes were a bit puffy, but she still looked rather satisfied. She was in her room, finishing slipping into sweat pants and Ross' "Frankie say Relax" t-shirt when she heard the door open.  
  
"Rach?"  
  
She imediately came out the door and ran up to Ross, hugging him tight.  
  
"I'm soooooo sorry"  
  
"Hey, honey, it's okay. I'm sorry too"  
  
She broke the hug to look at him.  
  
"I was just stressed and I didn't want to take it out on you"  
  
"And I should've listened to you when you said you were busy"  
  
"No, sweetie, what you did was really nice, you just wanted to be with me..."  
  
"I did want to be with you..."  
  
She smiled through tears and kissed him. He gladly let her, bringing his hand to her back and pulling her closer to him. When they broke, he brushed her tears away.  
  
"Don't cry, everything's alright"  
  
"I know"  
  
They kept looking at each other and he kissed her forehead.  
  
"We can still make it to those dinner reservations, you know?"  
  
She wrapped her arms around his waist.  
  
"No, let's just stay in tonight. We still have that basket you've brought"  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Yeah. I also- I have to tell you something and I wanna do it here"  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
"Now?"  
  
"Is it urgent?"  
  
"No, but... I can tell you now"  
  
"Oh, okay"  
  
"Come here"  
  
She took his hand and lead him to the couch, sitting across from him, on the coffee table.  
  
"Okay..." she sighed and kept watching him for a few seconds. Their hands were still on each other's and she looked down at them. "I've just found out about this a few days ago and I've been keeping it as a secret so I could tell you in our anniversary..."  
  
He came closer, looking very clueless and curious.  
  
"What, what is it?"  
  
"I... I just want you to know that I know this wasn't really planned, at all, but... I'm pretty happy about it" looking at him straight into the eyes, something inside of her burst with happiness knowing she was going to have his baby "and I hope you'll take this just as well as I did"  
  
She took his silence and still curious expression as a cue to go on.  
  
"I'm pregnant"  
  
The short silence was broke by a chuckle. He smiled at her, looking unconvinced.  
  
"Hm, you-you're, I'm sorry, you're pregnant?"  
  
His smile grew wider and she smiled back.  
  
"Yes" she nodded.  
  
"With-with my baby?"  
  
She tilted her head, shooting him a look. Her lips were nonetheless still curled up.  
  
"I think so...!"  
  
He shot her a look back.  
  
"So you're gonna have a baby?"  
  
"Our baby, yeah"  
  
He pulled her to sit down on the couch next to him and instantly wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"God, I- I can't believe it"  
  
"Are you okay with this?"  
  
He looked at her worried expression.  
  
"Yes! Of course, Rachel, I- I'm so happy! I'm just in shock, that's all." He looked deeply into her eyes. "We're gonna have a baby" She nodded, amuzed by his dumbfounded yet genuine happy look. Almost geeky, it was. So-so adorable... "Thank you"  
  
He kissed her lips lightly a couple of times before brushing his down her neck to her shoulders. She just held him, happy the evening had turned out fine.  
  
"Can you believe one year from today we were getting together?"  
  
"I still can't believe we got together in the first place"  
  
She laughed and held him tight.  
  
"I know, sometimes I find it hard to believe myself"  
  
"Funny"  
  
"It's truth...! Glad we did though. Can't believe I couldn't see what I wanted the most was just right next to me the whole time..."  
  
He pulled her even closer.  
  
"Let's not talk about that right now, we're here now"  
  
"We're here"  
  
She kissed his cheek and he let one of his hands slide down to cover her belly. One of her hands followed and rested on top of his.  
  
"How far along are you?" he whispered into her ear.  
  
"About five weeks"  
  
"Hm, five weeks? What were we doing five weeks ago?"  
  
She laughed.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?"  
  
He kissed her ear.  
  
"Hey..." he asked, softly.  
  
She turned slightly to look at him.  
  
"What?" her voice was just as weak.  
  
"I just want to apologise for the way I've been acting... being all crazy and jealous."  
  
"We've been through this, Ross. I know"  
  
"Well, exactly... I've told you I'm sorry and yet I just can't let go of this crazy jealousy and I just want you to understand how sorry I am. I'm trying"  
  
"I know you are"  
  
"You do?"  
  
She nodded and kissed him a bit longer than before. When they broke, she let a finger slide down his cheek.  
  
"Yeah... But hm... To make it easier on you, I- I'll go easier on the work, from now on. I don't need to be working extra hours s much, you know? It shouldn't be healthy for me to handle all this stress for our baby" her last few words were said through wide lips.  
  
Ross leaned closer and kissed her deeply, pressing his face against her neck when he was done.  
  
"I hope you understand how much I love you"  
  
And smiled.  
  
"I do, sweetie." She stroked his back and closed her eyes. "I love you too"  
  
"Happy anniversary"  
  
"Happy anniversary you too"  
  
They sat on the couch and talked while holding each other for hours before calling it a night. Probably not a big glamour night, but still just perfect for them. The perfect way to celebrate their love and the little gift they were soon going to get out of it. The perfect way to mantain what they had, possily even grow, instead of losing it.  
  
The perfect way to go on.  
  
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R&R fluff-fiction so I can vent some of my R&R-ness sometimes. I don't expect this to have a plotline, really, just R&R stuff as I feel like writing them! :) Hope it doesn't get too boring too soon! Anyway... reviews?? 


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